“Why did they leave the boat?”, Anthony asked aloud.
He began to wonder whether or not he should go after the Riverains and hunt down baby Moses, but how would he find them, and what direction had they gone? He went to each window and peered out. Each vantage point was surrounded by water and submerged trees. The banks of the flooded river were difficult to ascertain. It was getting late in the evening. The sky began to mimic the depths of the river. His time in the bush told him he had about thirty minutes of light left, if that.
There it was again.. movement up above him. Was it a rat? The shadows of the rafters eluded his query. He grabbed the pitchfork and circled around down below, peering up into the murk.
A pair of eyes.
They glowed dimly in the far dark corner of the rafters. It had to be a Riverain. The eyes were the same. But what the fuck was it still doing here? Anthony pretended not to see it and circled back to the far side of the barn, being sure to keep that thing in the corner of his eye. His heart was thumping. Was it a spy? There just to keep dibs on his position? But why? If it wanted to kill him, it could have done so already. He wasn't sure either way.
Still, he figured he could untie the boat and make his way out of there fast enough to leave the thing behind and be on his way, wherever that may be. He certainly didn't want to spend a night in that barn together with it.
He looked back up to the spot where he had seen the eyes.
Gone. His heart jumped to life again.
THUMP THUMP, THUMP THUMP
He sprang out of his corner and began surveying as much of the attic he could see. Was he just imagining this? Just another trick his warped brain was playing on him? WHERE WAS IT? It was too dark to tell. He had to know. The lamp. Was there any way to get it going? Was that even a smart idea? A barn full of light in the middle of the river would draw attention for sure. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing right now.
Sometimes being a smoker is a good thing. He grabbed the lighter out of his cigarette pack, snapped it to life and held it up. The tiny little flame was enough to break the eerie darkness up above.
“Thank GOD”, he muttered, realizing the attic was empty. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it up and took a long drag. He decided it would be ok to light a lamp just long enough to get the boat out of the barn and be on his way. Moses called out to him. He had to go after that baby. He felt it.
He walked over to the lamp and pulled off the glass top. There was hardly any oil left inside, but it would do. The lamp wick started without any trouble.
“Where did they take you, Moses?”, he thought. Anthony turned and froze.
Sitting in the boat was the Riverai
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